


The General's Confession

by J_Virtue



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout - Fandom, Fallout 4
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-10 02:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16461605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_Virtue/pseuds/J_Virtue
Summary: Losing your family and the world as you know it could make anyone crazy.





	The General's Confession

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prologue in the third person. The rest of the story will almost always be first person.

The ride back from Nuka World was a quiet one at first, agonizingly quiet. Preston held onto the railing as their small train trudged toward the Commonwealth, looking down at his laser musket with a contemplative expression. As they neared the Nuka-World Transit Center he finally looked up at the General. "That was an act, right? With the raiders." He said, smiling then, seeming to have reassured himself. "Pretty smart to make them think you'd actually lead a group like that," Garvey continued, "Really saved our hides. You know General, I think instating you was the bes-" 

The General interrupted him in a furious tone, she'd been steaming the entire train ride and now finally let it show. "SHUT UP GARVEY! Would you quit with the constant 'minute men this' and 'helping people that'? It's quite possibly the most annoying thing I've ever heard!" Preston nearly dropped his musket in surprise. He'd been totally unaware of his friend's desperate struggle to keep her act together since they'd left the raider town. 

"Hey, it's alright. We had a stressful da-" He tried to say, but the General interrupted him again, this time with a more controlled tone. 

"No Preston, this isn't stress getting to me. It's you getting to me." She paused and balled her fists tightly, trying to keep her cool. "It wasn't an act." She said in a matter of fact tone, "I fully plan to run those gangs." Once again, Preston was taken aback. 

"But... wait, hold on..." He stammered a moment, trying to process the General's deviation from her usual morals. "Why would you lead raiders? The Minute Men protect the Commonwealth from exactly those monsters every day." 

The General couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Garvey, you're a damn idiot." She said, causing him to set his jaw and tighten his grip on the rail. He wasn't sure what was going on with the General, but he was starting to get pissed. "I never cared about protecting the Commonwealth. When I was going to 'help' all those settlements, I was establishing trust, loyalty, and debt." She was gaining momentum with each word. "I didn't give two shits about some kidnapped daughter or raider pests! I cared about what I got for them." 

Preston scowled at that. He couldn't possibly believe that his closest friend for the better part of four months had been swindling them the entire time, but that seemed to be what she was saying. 

"Oh man, those suckers do anything I say now!" Said the General, loving the relief of not pretending to be some do-gooder. "I run the Commonwealth now, I can order an artillery strike on whoever the hell I want!" She sounded ecstatic. "Every settlement in this god-forsaken wasteland is working for me. Caps, supplies, weapons, armor, whatever I want: it's mine!" Preston shook his head roughly and looked at the General, tears threatening the backs of his eyes as he saw her twisted smile. "That's right, Garvey. I was only ever in it to make a profit." 

He'd had enough, "No... No, no, you helped us!" Argued Preston. His voice cracked as he faced the reality of everything he'd helped build being a lie. "Everyone in the Commonwealth has food, and water, and protection." He said, "That can't be a selfish act. We've done good." 

The General dropped onto one of the train's benches, finally relaxing after months of keeping up appearances. "Yeah well," She said dismissively, "Dead and starving people can't make caps or fire artillery, now can they?" 

Preston heard that comment ringing in his ears, felt the coldness and disregard soak in. His breath started coming fast as anger and pain welled up inside him. Finally, his arm snapped up, and in a flash his musket was pointed at the General's chest with four fusion cells cranked into the chamber. "You're a raider!" He yelled, uncharacteristically frantic. "Minute Men... We exterminate raiders!" 

The General raised an eyebrow at him, clearly not fazed by the rifle directed at her heart or Preston's very emotional reaction. "Oh really," She said, "You, the last Minute Man, are gonna kill me, the newest General?" She leaned forward and looked Preston in the eyes as if that musket weren't even there. She'd stared down much more frightening things, after all, even before the war. "It'd be like the Quincy Massacre all over again." Her voice seemed like it could have cut glass. "No one will trust you anymore, the Minute Men will fall to pieces." Preston growled his frustration and pointed the musket over the General's shoulder to fire it out the window. Even if it was all based on a lie, the Minute Men was still the Commonwealth's best hope, and he couldn't let that fall apart. The General grinned and leaned back on the bench, looking superior. 

"Fine then," Said Preston as he angrily shoved his musket into the holster on his back, "But I'm telling them the truth. Everyone will know that you're a liar, that you took the raiders' side, and once it's spread far and wide that you're a traitor, we'll decide what to do with you." Preston flared his nostrils and stood tall, perhaps most furious about the General's relaxed attitude, but she just began to laugh. 

She laughed hard and hugged her sides, her shoulders shaking. "Oh that's rich!" She said once she began to calm down. "You think you're gonna, what, hold me prisoner? Are you forgetting Cait, Hancock, and the dozens of killer robots I've built to 'defend' Sanctuary and The Castle? None of them would let you hold me prisoner, raider boss or otherwise." She crossed her arms and tilted her head towards him with a chuckle. "Hell, Shaun might just send in a few coursers to do a sweep and retrieve." Then her tone snapped back to ice in an instant. "And you know they don't leave witnesses." 

Preston turned his back to her to think about it, and he had to admit she was right. The General had far too many friends in low places for something like the law to stop her. He slammed his fist into the wall of the train car out of frustration. How had he gone from supporting the General with everything be had to trying to stop her in less than ten minutes? 

After a moment his hand began to throb, and he slumped into the seat accross from his friend turned stranger. "So what now?" He said in a defeated tone. "You got you're raider army, are you just gonna turn your back on the Minute Men?" The disgust in his last few words was evident, but the General didn't seem to mind. 

She sighed and began cleaning her 10mm, speaking in a chipper tone, "Of course not. You think I can turn that whole mess of raiders into a cohesive unit all on my own? I need caps, supply's, people, and a hell of a lot of ammunition. All the settlements under the Minute Men's protection will continue to provide those things for me. You're gonna fund my rise to become the most powerful raider boss this post-nuclear shithole has ever seen." She smirked at the thought of it. 

Preston let out a shaky sigh and balled his fists untill his knuckles were white. "You want the defenders of the Commonwealth to fund raiders?" Preston sounded like someone had punched him in the gut. The General gave Preston one more sly smile and nodded. "You bet your ass I do." She said matter-of-factly, "And if you don't, we'll just kill everyone and take what we want. It's not a very sustainable business model, but it does sound pretty fun." 

They rode the rest of the way in silence once again, the General cleaning her weapons while Preston lay his head in his hands. Once they finally got to the station, Preston remained on the bench in the train car, his face in his hands and looking defeated. The General stepped off whistling the tune of Atom Bomb Baby, and tossed her General's Hat on the ground without looking back. 

Then, she put on a badass helmet she'd stolen at the Nuka Town market. It was a deathclaw's skull fashioned over a sack hood. There was just something irresistable about the thought of looking like an undead lizard monster. 

Finally, looking as menacing as she really was, she walked out of the train station and started towards a Gunner hideout where a wealthy settler's daughter was being held. She planned to slaughter them all and give their gear to the residents of her new settlement. Can't have human shields guarding the Over Boss's caps in nothing more than a flannel and jeans, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sure I made a lot of spelling mistakes, if anyone knows a good spell check app plz tell me. (A free one lol)


End file.
